Chapter 4999: Research III

The words of THE Beholder were always heavy to hear.

But right now, Noah seemed to be hearing them in passing, as if they were distant echoes rather than direct address. He was lost in the sensation of utilizing all Four Aspects of the Oldest Paradox of Existence simultaneously.

Chaos bloomed around him in that black dahlia of obsidian rivers.

Existence rotated above his left hand as that multicolored Dyson sphere of Civilization.

THE First Tongue stretched behind him as that endless Grimoire of Phonemes.

Paradox twisted through impossible geometry as that gold and obsidian Mobius strip.

All of it powered by Infinity that emanated from his finite form like light from a star.

And as he maintained this ridiculous display, he actually felt some form of strain. A sensation that came from something he had not actively sensed since he made his admission.

The strain came from his Depth.

When he truly looked at his existence, his Depth was still there. Even though he had declared himself finite, even though his external radiance had dimmed and his presence no longer pressed against reality with the weight it once carried, his Infinite Formless Depth remained.

But it was an odd thing.

Even though his Depth was there, paradoxically, it also was not there at the same time.

It seemed to have truly lived up to its name as his Formless Depth. Present and absent. Defined and undefined. Finite in nature while remaining Infinite in potential.

And when he dug into his existence further, when he examined the source of the strain he felt from doing this ridiculous action, he understood.

His weavings were still Countable.

Countable.

As immense as the jump he had made was, as unprecedented as his new ability to conduct rather than contain had become, the power he was currently utilizing remained Countable Infinity. Sequential. Numbered. Endless in progression but bounded in density.

Whenever he made that elevation toward Uncountable Infinity, whenever he achieved that density where infinite points existed between any two moments, what he would be able to do would be even more immense than this.

This was hit limitation as a finite being, not a limitation of infinity itself.

He could not even say this when he had not fully grasped what he could do currently.

He had to research and understand just what his current limits were. He had to explore what he could truly accomplish with the power he now held before reaching toward the next threshold.

So he opened his eyes and looked at THE Beholder in the distance.

The ancient entity looked back calmly.

Those geometric fragments maintained their expanded configuration, the luminous eye at the center tracking Noah’s attention with patience that spoke of eons of practice. There was no urgency in that gaze. No demand. Simply observation of the same quality it had maintained since before differentiation taught existence how to have boundaries.

Noah could not particularly get a read on this entity.

And the way THE Beholder was looking at him suggested that it also could not get a read on him.

He had many things that he wanted to ask. Questions about Infinity and THE First Cause and that age of nothingness and what exactly it was and why this being had chosen to speak to him during his confrontation with Beowulf.

He felt like even if he did ask, this being would not really answer.

He was about to ask anyway, because there was no harm in trying, when THE Beholder spoke first.

"What do you think about Civilization and adversity?"

...!

The question startled him.

It felt too simple at a glance. Too basic for a being that had existed since before complexity emerged. Too mundane for a conversation that had just covered the potential for Infinity to be its own Civilization independent of all other Keys.

But Noah also felt like he could not give too simple an answer.

He continued to test himself and his limits as he looked up at the manifestations still radiant around him. Infinity seemed to emanate from his seated form in waves of blue light, powering all four displays with authority that flowed rather than strained.

All of it around him.

All of it responding to his direction.

"Civilization and adversity..."

Noah spoke slowly, feeling his way through thoughts that had been building since long before this conversation began.

"They are a unique thing. I am learning more and more about it, and as I learn, I want to question. Why adversity? Why must I struggle?"

He paused, looking at his hands.

"I want to change this. Struggle seems to be inherently built into existence. No matter what I do, I have to throw myself into struggles to make sure that I have enough power for when the next struggle descends. I dislike that cycle. I want to break that cycle."

His eyes grew distant.

"And yet, if I do, it would feel like my Civilization has stalled and would not rise again. It feels like conflict and struggle and war is rewarded by Vakochev’s Scales. As if adversity itself is the fuel that drives advancement."

Noah leaned back in his chair of condensed Infinity.

"Where I was from, the smallest versions of budding civilizations were measured in how those with no energy or Mana could kill each other. They began just fighting with their fists."

He raised one hand, closing it into a fist.

"The one with the strongest physique. The one with the bigger body. They would use their fists to pummel anyone who opposed them, and their might would make them right. If you had a problem with anyone, you simply had to use your fists. That was the first expression of Civilization’s answer to adversity."

He opened his hand.

"And with these weak beings trying to build a Civilization, they moved a step further. The advancements they made from their fists went to weapons. Swords and spears. Sharp and mighty. If they had conflict with anyone else, if they had adversity with anyone else, they would simply answer by swinging their swords and spears to cut them down."

His voice carried weight that spoke of genuine contemplation.

"To advance their Civilizations further, they innovated and built bows and arrows. Now, if they had conflict or adversity against anyone, they could shoot them from afar. Their Civilizations had advanced to projectile warfare. They elevated the Scale of their Civilization and warfare to where ranged engagements allowed for the thinning of enemy ranks before physical contact."

Noah’s eyes hardened slightly.

"From simple projectiles, they went to guns. The Scale of their Civilization and warfare drastically expanded. Battles became devastating as a single man did not simply have to rely on their fists or their sword or their bow and arrow. They could use a single gun and kill dozens. Even hundreds. You could have people that you did not even know kill each other from afar now, to accommodate the conflict and adversity of this now advanced Civilization."

He shook his head slowly.

"But these Civilizations did not stop there. Adversity and conflict continued to build. They went a step further and built larger guns, faster guns. Eventually, missiles. Now a single person could operate a weapon to launch a devastating, long-range projectile that could kill hundreds or thousands. The higher the kill count rises from what a single person could do, the more advanced that Civilization was considered."

His voice grew heavier.

"So the more destruction, the more adversity, all of this was rewarded. As if Vakochev’s Scales of Civilization were pervasive even at that small level."

...!

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